


Still I tug at your line

by fizisthename



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Jealous Virgil, Light Angst, M/M, canon AU, past relationship, set in SvS, they both miss each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28532877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fizisthename/pseuds/fizisthename
Summary: Virgil hates the idea of jury duty, especially when he’s being forced to play courthouse for whatever Janus is planning. He particularly hates it when Janus starts to shamelessly flirt with Roman just to ensure an easy win. Not that he’s jealous, of course.Set in SvS
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, anxceit
Comments: 4
Kudos: 66





	Still I tug at your line

The debate had been going on for hours.  
Virgil had never liked the idea of jury duty: having to break your daily routine to meet up with a group of strangers and decide the fate of a person you have met that exact same day did not peak his interest, not even one bit.  
Virgil had never liked the idea, and he surely hadn’t liked playing courtroom for a whole day because his ex, Janus, had decided to show up and throw everyone into a paranoid fit. That was _his _job, after all.  
Still, he sat down on the wooden chair, leaning on the seats in front of him, and stared at the prosecution.__

__Janus was reinforcing some point with his usual layers of philosophy and carefully crafted phrases, knowing Thomas, Roman and Patton were eating it up, but Virgil’s attention lay on the new, rather fitting suit the deceiving side was wearing...  
He shook that thought out of his head immediately. Nope. Absolutely not. Janus was his ex, and since neither of them had made the decision to fix anything, they were still on bad terms. Virgil tried to remind himself that Janus was a childhish and selfish man, all talk and no cattle; that there was nothing that annoyed him more than Janus’ self righteous speeches and moral superiority.  
That’s right, he had no feelings left for the man, neither good nor bad. He just didn’t think of him. Ever. Especially not when he could see him flirt with Roman from across the stand._ _

___Wait, what?___

____Virgil felt his stomach drop. What was Janus doing?  
He sat up straight, trying not to let the shock appear on his face, but he could already feel his cheeks start to heat up.  
Why was he flirting with someone? And why Roman of all people?  
Janus had not even been a month back into his life and he was already trying to get one past his friend? That was just deplorable. Had he forgotten about his history with Virgil?  
Not that he cared, of course. He wasn’t jealous, it hadn’t even crossed his mind. Janus could flirt with whoever he wanted to, and Virgil couldn’t have cared less.  
You know what, it must have been just a scheme for his weird little case. Just a way to butter up the judge to ensure an easy win. There was no other explanation! Janus was a skilled and knowledgeable liar, and Roman was just... Roman.  
Now, of course, Virgil loved Roman; he was one of his dearest friends, but, come on, he wasn’t exactly Janus’ type._ _ _ _

____What was Janus’ type, though?  
The only person he had openly had an interest in was Virgil, and he was pretty different from the creative side. Scratch that, they were two of the most different people in the mindscape, it just wouldn’t make sense for Janus to go from one to the other. Unless he couldn’t even bare to find a partner with traits that reminded him of Virgil. Maybe he wanted to find someone so different he wouldn’t even have to think about his ex. Maybe Janus had realised, like everyone else, that he was just a useless, life draining piece of shit and-_ _ _ _

____From across the room, he caught Logan gesturing a question at him.  
Virgil got himself back together._ _ _ _

____He put his thumb up. _I’m okay. _____ _ _

______Logan nodded and went back to listening to the case._ _ _ _ _ _

______This was officially too much for him. If Janus’ plan had been to make him jealous, then it had worked. It had also made him sad, though._ _ _ _ _ _

______He looked up to Janus, and their eyes locked for the first time during the whole case.  
Janus was about to give him one of his usual shit eating grins, but then he recognised something in Virgil’s eyes and thought better of it.  
From that moment on, Janus seemed to be trying to wrap up the case much faster._ _ _ _ _ _

______———_ _ _ _ _ _

______As soon as the court scenario ended, Virgil sprinted back to his room.  
That morning had been a disaster, and he wanted nothing more than to lay on his bed and finally be alone.  
He had not even put his hand on the doorknob when a voice startled him._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hello, Virgil.” Janus said, smugness in his voice._ _ _ _ _ _

______Virgil didn’t even turn around. “Yes, hi, piss off.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“What’s the matter Anxiety, did that little debate tire you so? I guess you just aren’t as sharp as you once were.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh, screw you. You didn’t even win the debate, so don’t come here gloating like you actually did something useful.” And here Virgil actually turned to face him._ _ _ _ _ _

______Janus was still wearing his court clothes, and despite the grin on his face he still looked tired. Virgil knew that despite his fame of a know-it-all, Janus must have spent days and nights working on how to win this debate; studying, researching and reading everything he could to ensure his voice would be listened to._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Well I would have if Roman hadn’t made such an awful last moment decision. Well, I guess it was still a kind hearted gesture on his side, what with being the embodyment of dreams and passio-“_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Roman this, Roman that! Have you considered that maybe what got you to fail was all that shameless flirting? You probably creeped out poor Roman so bad that he changed his mind.” Virgil cut him off._ _ _ _ _ _

______“On the contrary, I believe my charms were what got me so close to victory. I should have not kept anything back, at this point Thomas would already be picking out an outfit for that callback.”  
Janus was starting to ramble, but he stopped himself when he saw Virgil staring at him wide-eyed._ _ _ _ _ _

______“So you _were _doing it on purpose! You flirted with Roman just to get your point across!”___ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah so what? Winning is easy for a light side, but when you’re a dark one you have to fight for your way to the top with any means necessary. But you wouldn’t know that anymore, would you Virgil?” He added, with a tad of bitterness to his voice._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Oh, cry me a river.” Virgil wanted nothing more to do with Janus that day. He turned around and went for the door, but Janus stopped him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Listen, Virgil. I understand that you want nothing more to do with us, but that doesn’t mean I will stop fighting. That’s a kindness I can’t offer you, not right now.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Virgil felt a stab of pain at hearing the old determined Janus he had once called his friend. He knew Janus’ war couldn’t end just because of courtesies, but for a moment he wished he didn’t have to be on the opposite team._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I don’t ask you to stop fighting, lord knows you could never do that for anyone’s sake. But there _must _be better ways than empty flirting with Roman.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“I don’t understand why you’re so upset about Roman! It’s not like it’s any of your buis- _wait. _”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________A silence fell between the two, Virgil felt his whole face burn, the secret was out. He was still turned towards the door, and he knew that if he didn’t get in soon enough, he would start to cry._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“... are you... jealous, Virgil?” Janus asked, plainly, but with a smile in his voice, and it was enough to break Virgil._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Of course I am! How could you expect me not to be?” He turned around once again, anger in his eyes. “-You waltzed back into my life and pretended like nothing even happened between us, now you put on a show to romance one of my friends right in front of my eyes, just to remind me how happy you are without me! Well, good job sir, your point came across loud and clear.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Now it was Janus’ turn to stare at him wide eyed. He struggled for words, clearly he hadn’t expected so much honesty on Virgil’s side._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“No, Virgil- I-“ he let go of a breath then looked back up to stare into his eyes. “I’m sorry, Virgil. I never meant for it to come off this way. No, scratch that, I did. I wanted to make you jealous because I missed you, and I didn’t take into account that you could miss me too.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Virgil could feel his voice get stuck in his throat, but he knew he had to say something. “Sure. Thanks. Now please leave.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Wait- wait. I meant what I said. I don’t want you to think that I’m better off without you, because I am not. I miss you, Vi; but I also know that what happened between us goes further than normal relationship limits, and that there’s no easy fix for it.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“You’re right, there really isn’t.” Virgil begun “But, I guess it’s nice to hear that you miss me.” He gave the other a small smile, and he could have sworn Janus’s face looked ten years younger._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Listen to me, Vi. I am not going to stop fighting for what I think is right, and I know you won’t either, and I know that once we leave this corridor we’re going to go back to being sworn enemies, so the one promise I can make you is this: I won’t hide my feelings for you. I won’t hide them and I will be considerate of yours, whatever they might be.” Janus went to put a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, but stopped half way. Virgil smiled as he recognised in that his old Janus, and threw his arms around him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Thank you, J.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Janus had a moment of shock but then hugged him back._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“So much for being sworn enemies” he said, finding a bit of his usual smug self back._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“In a moment” Virgil replied._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
